It is not a pirate card. It is an official 09 Sky card and it decodes FilmNet, TV1000 and the TV3s. In Germany this reprogrammed card is being marketed as the RSC - the Real Smart Card.
Of course the 09 Sky cards are not being programmed by Sky and News Datacom to decode these channels. The pirates are the ones doing the reprogramming.
The move to the 09 Sky cards by some pirates is seen as a direct insult to Sky and News Datacom. But it also underlines the lack of security in the PIC16C84 cards. Most of the pirate cards in the European Blackbox industry are based on the PIC16C84. The commonest combination is the PIC16C84 and the 24C65. With the release of the Picbuster information on Usenet, the security of the PIC16C84 is seriously lacking for the pirates.
The 09 Sky card does offer a slightly more secure method of hacking the D2-MAC channels. The knowledge to completely reprogram the 09 Sky card is not in general distribution yet. However given that the original 09 card could be popped, it is expected that these reprogrammed cards will also be popped.
The move to the official Sky cards by the pirates is ironic to say the least. However it does provide the pirates with a huge ready made supply of cards.
When Sky eventually issue a new 0A card, there will be a few million old 09 cards available. The advantage here is that there is no production involved. There are no PICs and no EEPROMs to purchase. No PCB to have manufactured and populated. It is a pirate's dream.
At the moment, and probably for the next few weeks, the price of these cards will remain high. This is due to the fact that the knowledge to reprogram the 09 Sky cards is in few hands. Once the knowledge spreads, the price of a D2-MAC Sky card should fall to about £25.
At present this is an embarrassment for Sky. The withdrawal of the QuickStart scheme may have something to do with this development. Though knowing Sky's record of incompetence in Counter-Piracy it is more sheer luck. The denial of an easily acquired supply of 09 QuickStarts would tend to lessen the impact. However what may occur is that people will have their legitimate 09 card reprogrammed for D2-MAC and be given a special offer on a cheap pirate 09 card at the same time.
One option, when they launch the 0A card, is to send the card killer nanocommands to all 09 cards. This could only be done after people have received their new cards. Of course they would have to advise people of the switch over period and to leave the 09 card in the decoder until it is killed.
Another option is for every subscriber to mail the 09 card back to Sky when they get the 0A card. The latter option would probably swamp Sky's Subscriber Management Centre but it would be a more secure method of ascertaining who is a valid subscriber, ie not using an additional pirate card or blocker.
The main pitfall for Sky in this option is that many of their subscribers who have had access to D2-MAC channels may not be so keen to subscribe to all Sky channels. Instead Sky may see the figures for the Multichannels go up and all other premium channels go down.